The Date
by afitwilight
Summary: Takes place after The Other Realm. Sara and Nick go on their date. N/S romance


It was Friday. The day Sara had both been looking forward to and dreading. She was looking forward to going with Nick, but at the same time she was nervous. It wasn't everyday that she and Nick went and did things on their own. Sure, they've had breakfast together before but this time it was different. This time she was taking him out, all because she lost a bet to him. Losing wasn't to him wasn't bad. The only thing that really bothered her was the fact that Nick might not have a good time or she might not be the best company for him. She didn't know what they could talk about that wasn't work related. She looked at herself one final time in the mirror. She was wearing black low rise pants and a red tank top. "Not too bad." She thought to herself. She then walked over and grabbed her purse and left her apartment.  
  
Nick glanced at the clock for the hundredth time that evening. Sara was supposed to pick him up at seven and it was now twenty till. In the back of his mind he felt bad for Sara, here he was making her take him to dinner. A steak dinner no less, but she had agreed to the bet right off, so he didn't feel that bad. Besides getting Sara to admit she was wrong was pretty amusing to him. A knock at the door got his attention, so he went over and answered it. Nick got his first real glimpse at her, and immediately forgot about the nagging in the back of his head. "Oh yeah, this will be worth it." He thought. Out loud he said hi.  
Sara grinned at him. "Hey, you ready?"  
"Yeah, let me my keys, otherwise I won't be able to come back in."  
"That might be helpful. Otherwise you would have to come home with me." She meant to say that in a joking way but her voice sounded sincere. She hoped Nick didn't notice.  
Nick glanced at her and thought about her comment, but he let it slide. He didn't want to further embarrass her. "Okay, I'm ready."  
They walked to Sara's car and got in and headed to the one place Sara never thought she would step foot in. The Outback.  
  
They arrived safely and went to reserve a table. Surprisingly, it wasn't packed. They only had to wait about thirty minutes. "Sidle party of two." Came the announcement.   
Sara got up from the car she was sitting on. "That's us."  
Nick followed her in and soon they were seated. The waitress came and got their drink order. Sara ordered water and Nick got tea. "I thought I would go easy on you."  
"Thanks Nick, but seriously order what you want to."  
"In that case, I'll have the biggest steak here."  
Sara laughed, "Yeah, well I'm not carrying you back out to the car. You can just roll out there if you have to."  
Nick laughed with her. "I guess that means I will have to go with the second biggest steak."   
  
After they ate, they headed back out to Sara's car. Each of them had a to go box with them. They both got in and Sara started the car. "Anywhere else you want to go?" she asked.  
"That's okay. Unless you have somewhere you would like to go?"  
"No, not really."  
"Then I guess we can go back to my house."  
"Okay."  
The drive back to Nick's was quiet. Nick was thinking about their dinner. He had a really good time with Sara. They talked about all kinds of things from work to movies, to music, and even video games. Sara had ordered a soup and salad for dinner and even though she brought half the salad home with her, Nick felt like she didn't get enough to eat. He knew she was a vegetarian and that was one reason why he picked the Outback for the bet. The meal had to have cost her a lot and he wanted to make it up to her somehow. He began to think what he could do. He didn't notice that they were in his driveway until Sara placed a hand on his shoulder. "Nick, did you hear me? You're home."  
Nick snapped out of his thoughts. "Oh, sorry."  
"It's okay. I... um... had a good time tonight."  
"Me too. Hey Sara, you wanna come in for a while? That is unless you have to get home."  
"No. I mean no, I don't have to get home. Sure I can come in for a minute."  
"Great."  
They got out and walked inside Nick's apartment.   
  
Nick put his keys on the table and turned to Sara. "You want something to drink?"  
"Sure."  
Nick went to the fridge and looked inside. He didn't have a huge variety of drinks. "What would you like?"  
"You know I wouldn't mind just having a soda. Is that okay?"  
"Sure no prob." Nick grabbed two sodas from the fridge and handed one to her. "You need a glass?"  
"No that's okay."  
Nick opened his and took a sip. He then turned his attention to the living room. "Care to sit down?"  
Sara walked over and sat down on his sofa. Nick sat down beside her. Then the room got very silent. The only sound was their breathing. Nick couldn't take much more of it. He turned to her. "Wanna watch tv?"  
"Okay."  
He flipped on the tv and began to channel surf. He didn't stay on a channel long enough to see what was on.  
"Why is it that men do that?"  
Nick turned to her. "Do what?"  
"You turn on the tv, and then change the channels so fast you don't even know what's on."  
"Oh, I hadn't really noticed."  
Sara sighed and shook her head. "I guess it's a guy thing."  
"Hey." He responded trying to sound hurt. He didn't get much sympathy though. Nick finally landed on a channel with a movie on it. In a silent agreement, they both started watching. After twenty minutes, Nick turned to look at Sara and noticed she had dropped off to sleep. He didn't want to wake her up because he knew that Sara didn't sleep much anyway. He also decided that he wasn't going to let her drive home either. She might fall asleep at the wheel and have an accident. He debated on whether carrying her to his room or just letting her sleep on the couch. He decided that his bed was more comfortable for her to sleep on. He got up off the couch and went and turned down the sheets on his bed. He then came back and as carefully as he could picked Sara up and carried her to his room. After laying her down and covering her up, Nick then got an extra blanket and pillow in his closet for himself. He headed back into the living room and went to sleep on the couch.   
  
The phone woke him up. He glanced at the clock on the V.C.R. It said 2:30am. Nick was still half asleep. "Hello?"  
On the other end was Grissom. "Nick, there's been a murder. I need you down here immediately."  
"Okay." Nick got the information he needed and was about to hang up the phone.  
"Nick, do you have any idea where Sara is? I tried calling her at home but she's not answering."  
There was no way Nick was going to tell Grissom Sara was there so he made up an excuse about how Sara was probably asleep and didn't hear the phone ring. "I'll swing by her place and pick her up."  
"Thanks Nick. I'll see you two out here." Nick then hung up the phone. He got up off the couch and headed toward the bedroom to wake up Sara.  
  
Sara was sound asleep. Nick called out her name but she didn't wake up. He then gently as he could, placed his hand on her shoulder and shook her. "Sara, wake up."  
Sara yawned and immediately realized she wasn't in her own bed. She turned over and saw Nick standing before her. "Nick?" She was confused. She had no idea how she got in his bed.  
"Hey, Grissom called. There's been a murder and it's got to be bad if he's calling us both on our night off."  
Sara leaned up and looked for a clock. The alarm clock on the side of the bed read 2:39 am. "Okay, I'm up. I just need to freshen up a bit." She then got out of bed and went to his bathroom.   
Ten minutes later they were both ready and headed out to the crime scene.  
  
Grissom walked into a two-story home and went straight into the living room. The scene before him was devastating. On the living room floor, were the bodies of a man, woman, and a boy no more than nine years old. Catherine and Warrick were already inside. Catherine noticed Grissom and turned her attention to him. "The next door neighbor found them." Grissom didn't speak for a while. He just let the scene talk to him. The bodies were brutally slashed and bruised. Blood was everywhere. "Okay." He said. "We need to go through this house and see if we can find out what happened. Someone needs to take pictures, dust for prints, and survey the area inside and outside the house. "Where are Nick and Sara?"  
Nick came in the house with Sara following. "We're right here."  
Grissom nodded, "Okay, here's what I want done. Nick, I want you to take pictures and I need you to gather blood samples from along the walls and the floor. Warrick dust everywhere inside you think would give us an answer to what happened here. Sara, I want you to go outside and survey the area, then come in and help Warrick. Catherine, you and I are going to talk to the neighbor and see what they know."  
Grissom noticed that someone was standing outside the house so he and Catherine went to investigate. The man looked torn. "Sir, my name is Gil Grissom. May I ask what you're doing here?"  
The man was in his late thirties and he had dark brown hair. He was at least 6'4". He looked from Grissom to Catherine back to Grissom. "My name is Douglas Cooke. I live right next door. I was the one who called 911."  
"Were you and the victims close?"  
"Yes sir, we used to have cook outs and parties a lot. Their son and my son are the same age. They would take turns spending the night at each other's houses."  
"Did you hear or see anything strange?"  
"No sir, but I haven't been home long. I work second shift and I noticed that Richard's door was open and he's not known to do that. So I walked over to see if something was wrong. I called out but no one answered so I went inside to see what was wrong."  
"Is that when you noticed the family?" Asked Catherine.  
"Yes ma'am. I called 911 immediately."  
"Did you touch anything on your way in or out?" Grissom replied.  
"I don't think so, but I could have."  
"We appreciate your help Mr. Cooke. We will call you if we need some more information from you."  
Grissom shook the man's hand and walked back to the scene with Catherine. She didn't look so good so Grissom asked what was wrong.  
"I was just thinking about the little boy. He's close to Lindsey's age."  
Grissom was worried that she would be emotionally involved. "Catherine you can't get involved with this. You can't let your emotions get in the way otherwise you won't be able to truly focus on the case."  
"I know, I know. It's just now I know what Sara goes through when a case really bothers her."  
That thought hadn't occurred to Grissom. Sara tended to get emotionally involved with a lot of cases she does, but he didn't feel like this one would hurt her to bad. She didn't have kids, unlike Catherine, so Grissom didn't give it another thought. "Hey Catherine, if this case gets too bad for you, I want you to step away."  
"Step away! Grissom you had to call Nick and Sara in on their night off because we needed all the help we could get on it. I can't just walk away because I feel sorry for the victim. Besides, I know how much I can handle. If the case gets too bad I will tell you and then I will step away."  
"Okay, then let's go see how everyone else is doing."  
  
Inside the house, Warrick began to dust around the living room for prints. Nick had already got all the pictures he needed and the coroners had taken the bodies away leaving a huge area to dust. Warrick began dusting around the table. On the table were family pictures, some of them were of the boy and others were of the three of them. In the pictures they looked happy and full of life. There was a picture of the boy in a baseball uniform. "What's the world coming to?" He asked out loud. Nick heard him and gave him a sad smile.  
"I don't know man. Seems like the world gets more evil everyday."  
"The boy was close to Lindsey's age. He had his whole life ahead of him. Think of all the things he's going to miss."  
Nick walked over to Warrick. "I know how you feel. This isn't the easiest case to be on but we have to do our job. We have to find who done this and stop them from doing it again."  
"Yeah, I know. I just hate cases like these."  
"Me too."  
They worked in silence for the rest of the time. Sara came in and began to help them dust the rest of the area. Once they gathered the prints, they packed up their stuff and decided to head back to the lab to get it all processed. Grissom and Catherine meet them coming out.   
"Find anything?" Asked Grissom.  
"A bunch of prints, but I'm guessing that most of them belonged to the family." Warrick replied.  
Nick held up some evidence bags. "I've got blood samples from different areas of the house."  
Grissom nodded, "I need you to do a blood spatter pattern analysis."  
"Already done it."  
"Good, let's go back and see if we can't piece together some of our mystery."  
  
Sara and Nick rode back together. Neither one of them were very talkative. Sara was glancing out the window. Nick kept an eye on the road but he would occasionally glance over at her. She could feel him staring, so she turned around to look at him. "You know, I just realized I forgot to tell you something."   
"What?"  
She smiled at him and placed her hand against his shoulder. "Thank you."  
"What for?"  
"For everything. Thank you for coming to dinner with me, even though it was to settle a bet, and thanks for inviting me in your apartment and giving me a place to sleep."  
"Hey, it was no problem Sara. I had fun tonight too."  
"I'm glad." Sara removed her hand not wanting to invade his personal space. Nick then took his hand off the wheel and grabbed her hand and held it.  
"You know I was wondering something. After this case is over you think maybe you would want to have dinner with me? I'll even pay this time."  
Sara couldn't believe her ears. "Nick just asked me out. Me." She thought. "Sure, it sounds like fun." She replied.  
"Great, this time I'll make sure it's a meat free dinner."  
"We can go anywhere you want to go. You don't have to avoid steak houses because of me."  
"Actually you know what I have a better idea, why don't you come over to my house and I will cook you dinner?"  
"Okay. That sounds good."  
Nick didn't let go of Sara's hand until they arrived back to work. Nick hesitantly let go of her hand and got out of the car. He glanced in the car. She hadn't moved. "Hey, you okay?"  
"Yeah, I was just thinking. I guess we better get in there before Grissom sends a search team for us." She got out of the car and walked side by side with Nick into the lab.  
  
Doctor Robbins had all three victims lying on tables in front of him. He did a complete autopsy on all of three of them. The results were depressing. He called Grissom down to report them. Grissom came in. "What did you find?"  
"They bled to death. The cuts were incredibly deep. Each one placed in a certain area. All three bodies were cut in the exact same areas."  
Grissom took that in. "The murderer liked order. Everything had to be done exactly the same."  
"It looks that way."  
"But what I don't understand is why they would stand still long enough for someone to do that to them."  
"I also noticed that there was alcohol in the blood system, including the young boy's."  
"So they were drunk when this happened. I'm not buying this at all."  
"I'm giving you all the information I have collected. The alcohol probably played a factor in it somewhere. I just don't know where."  
Grissom thanked him and headed back upstairs. He knew the cause of death but unfortunately that information didn't bring him any closer to learning how they died.  
  
Greg was having an incredibly bad night. Just about all of his machines and broke down and he was reduced to using only one. That alone was bad, but now he had almost the entire night shift bringing him stuff to analyze. "I knew I should have laid out tonight." He thought. "Where to start?" Greg decided he could work on the blood samples Nick brought him. Again with only one working piece of equipment the work was going to take all night. Greg got up and went to the break room. He needed coffee if he was going to make it through.  
  
Grissom gathered everyone is his office. He informed them of Robbins' conclusions. Catherine couldn't believe it. "Alcohol in their blood stream? Even the boy's?"   
"Yes that's what he found."  
"Grissom I don't know about you but I didn't see any beer cans lying around the house did you?"  
Grissom let Catherine fume for a minute then tried to calm her down. "Catherine, you know as well I as do, that just because there wasn't any sign of the alcohol that doesn't mean it wasn't there. Besides they could have drunk it somewhere else."  
"What parent lets their 9 year old boy drink?"  
Warrick decided he would help out Grissom. "We're not saying the parents did it. We don't know exactly what happened."  
Grissom turned to Nick. "What did the BSP show?"  
Nick took a deep breath and began to discuss what he found. "Blood was found everywhere on the walls and the floor. I really couldn't determine where one pattern started and another one ended. I would say that the blood on the wall was from one of the vics hitting it, as an attempt to get away."  
Grissom nodded his head. "And the blood on the floor was where they died." He finished.   
Catherine looked at Warrick. "Has Greg finished the prints yet?"  
Warrick shook his head. "No. He hasn't been able to get to them yet."  
Catherine lost her temper. "What is he doing down there? We need those prints!!"  
"Calm down, Greg's doing the best he can. All the computers and machines have messed up or shut down. Only one is working at the moment and Greg is doing everything he can to help."  
Sara got up. "Hey Grissom, is it okay if I go down and help Greg? Maybe I can take some of the evidence to another station and work on it there."  
Grissom shook his head. "That's a good idea. Thanks Sara. I'm sure Greg will appreciate that."  
"No problem. Besides it will keep Greg from being killed." She looked over at Catherine and then walked out of the room.  
"So what do we do?" asked Nick.  
"We need to find out more about the victims and their family." Grissom said. "Nick, I want you and Warrick to go through and see if any of their family members live close by and talk with them. Catherine, I want you to go and talk with some of the other neighbors and see if they were close to the Greens."  
"What are you going to do?" asked Catherine.  
"I'm going back to house and see if there are any beer cans laying around."  
  
It took Nick and Warrick about twenty minutes to find some of the Green's family. Richard Green had a brother that lived only fifteen minutes away. So they decided to start there. Nick drove his car down. Warrick sat in the passenger seat. He could smell the light scent of perfume from where Sara had sat earlier. "So Nick, how have you been lately?" He was trying to get his mind off the case.  
Nick continued to focus on the road but answered him. "I'm doing good. How about you?"  
"I'm okay. So did Grissom interrupt any plans you had when he called you in tonight?"  
"No, not really. I was asleep on the couch when he called."  
That got Warrick's attention. "Why were you sleeping on the couch? You do have a bed you know."  
Nick wasn't sure how to respond to that but he figured he might as well tell him the truth. "My bed was being used at the time."  
Warrick's eyes widened. "Oh really. Occupied by anyone I know."  
"Yeah, you know her."  
"How do you know I know her? Have I met her before?"  
"Yep."  
"Okay this isn't fair. I want details and I want them now."  
"We had dinner and she came over to my place later and she fell asleep on my bed, so I slept on the couch." Nick purposely left out the fact that she had first fell asleep on the couch. He just wanted to see how long he could keep Warrick guessing.  
"Alright Nick!! Was she still there when Grissom called?"  
"Yeah."  
"Is she still there?"  
"Nope. She left when I did."  
"Does this mystery lady have a name or do I just call her that girl."  
"Oh, she has a name."  
"And......"  
"And we are here." Warrick looked out and sure enough they were at the brother's house.   
"Nick, this conversation isn't over."  
"Whatever you say man. C'mon let's go see what kind of people the Green's were."  
  
Nick and Warrick walked up to the door and rang the bell. A girl around the age of seven answered. "May I help you?"  
Nick smiled at her. "I'm looking for Walter Green. Is he home?"  
"Yes, he's home. Wait there." She shut the door back but they could hear her yell for her daddy.  
Walter Green opened the door. "May I help you gentleman?"  
Nick introduced them. "Sir, do you mind if I ask you some questions about your brother?"  
"No, I don't mind. In fact maybe you can answer some questions for me."  
"We'll try."  
Warrick began the questions. "Mr. Green, how would you describe your brother's family life?"  
"Richard was a very happy man. He and his wife Ellen had been married for ten years. Their son Ben was their pride and joy."  
"Did the Green's drink?"  
"Occasionally but they only drank at social activities. May I ask why you asked that?"  
Nick gave him the answer. "We found alcohol in their system."  
"Really, that's odd."  
"How so?"  
"Well, they were over here early Friday evening. They left around seven."  
Warrick glanced at Nick. "Sir, did they say what they were going to be doing after they left?"  
"No, I just assumed they wanted to go home. Ben wanted to spend the night, but my wife and I were supposed to go somewhere today and he couldn't. Needless to say we didn't make it."  
Nick gave him a sad smile. "We appreciate your time. We will contact you when we had some more information."   
Walter thanked them and shut the door. Nick and Warrick then headed back toward the car.  
  
Catherine walked up to the house behind the Green's. She knocked on the door and a woman in her mid-thirties. "Yes?"  
Catherine smiled at her. "Hi, my name is Catherine Willows. I'm with the Las Vegas Crime Lab. Do you mind if I ask you some questions about the Greens?"  
The woman invited Catherine in. Catherine noticed a young boy in living room playing video games. The woman turned her attention to the boy. "Trevor honey, do you think you can turn off the game for a little bit and go upstairs?"  
Trevor turned around to look at her. "But mom, I can't quit now!!! I'm going to be in the next level in just like five seconds."  
The woman turned to Catherine and apologized.  
Cat smiled at her. "Don't. I have a daughter around his age. I know exactly what you're going through."  
"I'm Lisa by the way." The woman replied. "Why don't we go in the kitchen instead? Would you like some tea?"  
"I want some mom!!!" Trevor yelled.  
"You have to come in the kitchen to drink it. You will spill it everywhere."  
Lisa walked in the kitchen and went to the fridge. She pulled out a container filled with tea and took out three glasses. She poured tea in all of them and handed Catherine a glass. Catherine nodded her thanks.  
"So, how may I help you Ms. Willows?"  
"You can just call me Catherine. I was wondering if you could tell me a little about the Greens?"  
"We really didn't speak to them much. They used to throw a lot of parties and they would drink a lot."  
"Did a lot of the neighbors attend these parties?"  
"No, just the Cooke's. I think the others were family members."  
"Do you talk to the Cooke's?"  
"Sometimes. We mostly keep to ourselves though. Everyone in the neighbor hood usually leaves the others alone."  
"Did Trevor ever go and play at Ben's house?"  
Lisa sighed. She gave Catherine a small smile. "I didn't want Trevor over there. He wanted to go and I wouldn't let him. I don't want my son to be around people when they drink. I know one day he will be a teenager and he will go to parties and be surrounded by it, but right now he's not old enough. I didn't want him to be like Ben."  
"You didn't want him to be like Ben in what way?"  
"Ben's parents let him drink if he wanted to. He offered Trevor some beer one time and that's when I told Trevor he wasn't allowed back over there."  
"Lisa did you hear anything last night. Any fighting or shouting?"  
"I'm sorry Catherine. I wasn't home at all last night. My mom is sick and Trevor and I spent the night with her. We've only been home an hour. Mr. Cooke told us about what happened."  
Catherine thanked her and decided she would go see how Grissom was doing. She also wanted to fill Grissom in on the discussion she just had with Lisa. She told Lisa and Trevor good-bye and headed over to the Green's house.  
  
Grissom was back inside the crime scene. So far he had found wine bottles in the garbage can outside, and wine and beer in the pantry. There wasn't any evidence in the living room though. All the wine and beer was in the kitchen. He was so involved with looking around he didn't hear Catherine approach. She called out his name and he jumped. Catherine wanted to keep from laughing at him but she failed when he turned to look at her. Grissom just continued to stare at her. "Well, I'm glad I amused you. I've done my one good dead for today."  
Catherine apologized and gave him the new information she just learned.  
"Yep, I would say they liked to drink. There's wine and beer in the fridge and pantry."  
She smiled at him. "I guess that confirms the alcohol in their system."  
"Yes it does. Now we have to figure out what exactly happened here."  
Catherine headed back outside with Grissom following her. "I guess we really won't know until the prints come back."  
Grissom agreed. They both decided to head back toward the lab and see if any of the machines were up and running.  
  
Greg still felt swamped. Sara had come and gathered the prints from him to take to another station. He was very grateful for that. Of course, now he had Eckley come in and wanted him to run some stuff for him. Greg had told him about the computers and how that Grissom's case had seniority. Needless to say, Eckley got mad and stormed out of there. Greg was glad to see him leave. The phone in the lab rang and he answered it.  
He could recognize the voice on the other end anywhere. It was Sara.  
"Hey Greg."  
Greg grinned really big. He knew she couldn't see him and he was glad otherwise he would have to explain himself. "Hey Sara. How's the prints coming?"  
"Good. I'm about done here."  
"That's good. I'm almost done with the blood sample, but now I've got Eckley breathing down my neck."  
"Sorry about that."  
Greg heard footsteps and looked up. Nick and Warrick came in the lab. "Hey Greg."  
They said. Greg smiled at them and said hey. Sara wanted to know who he was talking to. So he told her.  
"Let me speak to Nick real fast."  
Greg looked over at Nick. He felt his heart drop. "Nick, Sara wants to talk to you."  
Warrick noticed the smile Nick got on his face. Nick didn't notice Warrick's stare and grabbed the phone from Greg. "Hey."  
"Hey Nick. How's things going?"  
"They're okay. How about on your end?"  
"I'm about done. I should be back in an hour or less."  
"Great, I'll see you then." Nick could feel himself smile into the phone and he knew Sara was doing the same thing. He hung up the phone and turned around. Greg and Warrick both were staring at him with incredible interest.  
Warrick was the first to speak. "Would the mystery lady's name happen to be Sara?"  
Nick could feel his face get redder. He couldn't hide it anymore. He had this huge grin on his face. "Yeah War. It's Sara. We had dinner last night." Nick then explained the whole bet and dinner to them. "Man I had such a great time. I loved spending time with her. She's wonderful. I'm cooking for her one evening."  
Warrick couldn't resist. "Cooking what exactly?"  
Nick gave Warrick a sly grin. "Wouldn't you like to know?"  
Warrick laughed. "Hell yeah, I wanna know. You can't keep these kinda secrets from me Nick. I'm the closest thing to a best friend you got. So spill it."  
Nick laughed. "Okay, okay. As soon as I figure out something I will tell you. Right now though the only thing I'm telling you is that I'm fixing a nice romantic meal for her."  
Greg looked like he was going to fall over. "You're dating Sara?"  
Nick gave him a grin. "Yeah, I mean we haven't actually come out and said it but yeah she's mine."  
Warrick got to thinking about the conversation they had going to Walter's. "Nick, did you sleep with Sara?"  
Nick about died. "No, look I intentionally left out the part about her falling asleep on my couch just to see how you would take my comment. Now I know."  
Warrick just laughed. "Yeah okay whatever. How about I ask Sara her version of the story?"  
"She'll tell you the same thing."  
Greg fell onto the closest chair to him. He sat down. He then looked up at Nick. "If you hurt her, I'll kill you."  
"Don't worry Greg. I promise I will take good care of her for you."  
Warrick laughed. "Oh yeah, he's gonna take extra good care of her."  
Greg just banged his head on the table. Nick and Warrick just laughed.   
  
Grissom and Catherine arrived back at the lab and searched for Nick and Warrick. They found the two in the break room drinking coffee and laughing. Grissom watched them for a bit and then spoke out. "Is this an inside joke or can anyone hear?"  
Nick's face turned red and tried to play it out. "No, we're just talking. Um.. we talked to the brother. He told us that the Green's mainly drank at social occasions and that they had been to his house 'til seven that evening."  
Catherine frowned at him. "That's not what Lisa told me. She said that the Green's drank quite a bit. That's why she didn't socialize with them much."  
"Well someone's lying." Warrick said.  
Grissom glanced around the room noticing the missing person from his team. "Have any of you talked to Sara?"  
Warrick grinned really big and looked over at Nick. Nick tried his best not to look at his friend. Nick turned his attention to Grissom. "Yeah, she's about done with the prints and she said she would be here soon."  
"Good. Has Greg come up with anything on the blood?"  
"He's still working on it. Eckley's been at him too."  
Hearing Eckley's name didn't make Grissom very happy. "Eckley has his own lab techs he needs to leave Greg alone."  
  
Sara arrived back at the lab and started looking for the team. She had the mistake of running into Eckley. He saw her holding evidence bags and papers. He stepped in front of her. "What's going on Sidle?"  
"I'm trying to get evidence back to my team."  
"You know you're not supposed to take stuff like that out of here."  
Sara started breathing really slowly. "Look, I was helping out Greg. All the computers in the lab but one are shut down. I told Grissom I was going to go to another police station and do some of the lab work myself. That's why I have all this stuff."  
Eckley didn't buy it. "I don't think so Sidle. Grissom wouldn't approve of that."  
Sara wanted to floor him, but fought against it. Fighting him would cause her to lose her job. "If you don't believe ask him. In fact why don't you just follow me to his office or where ever he is and we can get this whole mess straightened out. But do you honestly want to know what I think is going on here. I think you're jealous because we are better qualified to handle these things than you and your team. If you were then you would leave poor Greg alone and do some of the research yourself."  
Eckley's face turned blood red. "That's it. You just asked for it. Forget Grissom we're going to go to Brass."  
She shrugged. "Fine, how about you go and find him and I will be with my team doing real work." With that said she walked off in search of Grissom.  
  
Sara was fuming. She hasn't been this angry since well, she couldn't remember the last time she was this mad. She wasn't paying much attention and rounded the corner too sharply and slammed right into Nick. She was immediately sorry. "Nick, I'm sorry. I wasn't really watching where I was going."  
Nick placed his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it's no big deal. Are you okay?"  
She looked into his eyes and began to feel much better. Her anger was slowly leaving her body. "I just had an argument with Eckley."  
Nick moved his hand from her shoulder to around her waist. "Care to share?"  
Sara leaned into him and hugged him tight. "It's just that he's a real jerk. He's going to tell Brass that I took evidence out of the lab."  
Nick rubbed Sara's back. "Don't worry Grissom gave you permission to and besides you were helping Greg."  
She pulled away so she could look at him. "I know. I told him that along with the fact that his entire team is lazy."  
Nick laughed. "I would have loved to have seen that."  
She laughed with him. "Yeah, well stick around. There's defiantly going to be a round two. Wanna go with me to take this stuff to Grissom?"  
He nodded and they walked side by side, with Nick's arm around her waist to Grissom's office. Of course before they got there, they ran into Warrick. Warrick grinned at them. "Hey Sara, I need to talk to you about something."  
Nick glanced at his friend. "Now isn't the best time man."  
"Sure Nick, you just don't want me to find out what really happened."  
Sara stared at both men. "Unbelievable" she thought to herself. "Exactly what is it you want to know Warrick?"  
Warrick got on the other side of her and put his arm around her shoulders. "See Sara, Nick here was telling me all about your date last night, but he failed to mention a thing or two about you ended up in his bed."  
Sara could feel her face turn red. "I'm not the type to kiss and tell Warrick."  
Both men laughed. Warrick smiled at her. "I bet. That's okay, I already know about the dinner he's giving you."  
"Is that a fact?"  
"Yep."  
They arrived at Grissom's office. Unknown to them Grissom saw the three of them together. He knew something was going between them. Well, at least two of them. He hoped it was only two of them anyway. They pulled apart before they came in.  
Sara handed Grissom the envelope. "I've got four different sets of prints."  
Grissom smiled at her. "Okay, three were from the family right? And the others are?"  
Sara grinned. "Someone named Sam Andrews."  
"Good job."  
"Um Grissom Eckley's gone to Brass because of me."  
Grissom's smile faded. "What did you do?"  
Sara gave him her most innocent look. "Nothing. I just told him the truth." She explained the whole conversation to him.  
Grissom understood. "Okay, I'll talk to Brass. You stay away from Eckley understand?"  
"Yeah, I got it."  
"Just to make sure. Why don't you go and talk to Mr. Andrews?"  
Sara smiled. "Okay. Alone?"  
Grissom knew exactly where she was going with this. He wasn't sure if he wanted two of his team seeing each other. But then again he couldn't stop them either. "Alright take Nick with you."  
Sara and Nick both grinned. Warrick just shook his head. "Grissom has no idea what he just did." Warrick thought and followed Nick and Sara out of the office.  
  
Brass was sitting at his desk. He had papers spread along the table in front of him. The phone rang and he tried to find it among all the clutter. Finally he found it and answered. "Brass."  
"It's Grissom." His voice had a very tired and irritated tone to it.  
"What's wrong?"  
"Sara and Eckley got into it. She was helping Greg by taking some samples to another station since our computers are on the blink. Anyway Eckley interrogated her and she responded back Sara style and you know how that is."  
"Yeah, I know exactly how that is." Brass heard his door open and none other than Eckley walked in. "I'm gonna have to call you back. The devil himself just appeared at my door." Brass hung up the phone. "Before you even start Eckley I know all about what happened."  
Eckley got furious. "That was Grissom on the phone wasn't it?"  
"Yes it was and he explained to me about the whole situation. I'm really ashamed of you Eckley. You know Sara wouldn't take evidence out of the lab for unjust reasons."  
"But, Brass she's not a lab tech, she had no right doing Greg's job."  
Brass had about enough of Eckley's whining. "I'm only going to say this once and then you are going to get out of my office. You are just mad because you don't have any of the skills the night shift crew has and unlike you they don't need their lab tech to do everything for them. That will be all Eckley. You may leave now."  
Brass watched the younger man walk out the door. His fists were balled up tightly and he looked like he would hit anyone or anything that came near him. Brass thought to himself "If he hits someone we can discharge him." He then laughed at his comment and began to get back to the many papers staring at him on his desk.  
Sara decided to drive this time and give Nick a break. She had the window rolled down and let the air blow her hair wildly. She turned to look at the man sitting beside her. Nick looked tired. "You know you didn't have to come with me if you didn't want to." She said.   
Nick smiled at her. "I wanted to. Trust me."  
"I do."  
"Good. Look I'm sorry if I upset you by telling Warrick. Oh and Greg knows too. He didn't take it very well."  
"Nick you didn't upset me. It's just.... Are we....Exactly what is our relationship now?"  
"Sara, I don't know about you but I love you. I think I always have."  
Sara pulled the car over to the side of the road. She turned and looked at him. "I love you too."  
Nick leaned in closer to her his seat belt was getting in his way but he ignored it. She leaned in halfway to meet him. He gently pressed his lips to hers. After a minute they pulled apart. Both had a grin on their face. "I um think we better go and interview um that guy." Sara said.  
"Yeah I guess so." Nick said but neither one of them moved. Nick leaned over and kissed her again. This time it was more passionate. Once they pulled apart Sara forced herself to begin driving. She knew that the smile on her face wouldn't go away anytime soon.   
  
Sam Andrews' home wasn't what either one of them were expecting. He lived in a trailer with very little space. Nick glanced over at Sara and back at the trailer. "I'm taking it that he lives alone."  
Sara shook her head. "I would hope so."  
They went over to the door and Nick knocked on it. Of course he knocked a little bit too hard and the door almost fell off. "Oops." Was all he could say.  
Sam Andrews walked to the nearly torn off door. He was not a very clean man. The shirt that he had on looked like it had been worn at least two days in a row. "What are you doing busting down my door?" he yelled.  
Nick tried to apologize. "Sir, I'm sorry. My name is Nick Stokes. This is Sara Sidle. We're from the Las Vegas crime lab and we need to ask you a few questions."  
"Yeah, what kind of questions?"  
"Sir, do you know Richard and Ellen Green?"  
"Yeah, why?"  
"They were found murdered in their home last night. When was the last time you saw them?"  
"I just was over there last night. We usually drink together."  
"What time was that?"  
Sam didn't look at them. He kept his eyes to the ground. "I don't know really, but I think I left around midnight."  
Sara wanted out of there. Sam not only looked dirty but he smelled bad. "Did you drink last night?"  
"Of course. That's what we do. We drink, talk, and watch the ball game on tv."  
Nick was pretty sure this guy was still drunk. He could smell beer coming out the of the man's mouth. "Did the little boy drink too?"  
"Yep, parents let him."  
"Did anything strange happen when you were there? Did you hear anything or see anything?"  
"Nope, not really. Of course we was watching the game so I didn't hear anything except what was on the t.v."  
Nick wanted to leave and from the look Sara had he could tell she wanted to go too. "We appreciate your help. If we have any more questions we will ask."  
Right when they turned around Sam called at them. "Wait, did that one boy make it home okay?"  
Nick gave him an odd look. "What boy?"  
"Ben's friend. He came over last night. Said something about not wanting his mama to find out he was there."  
"Sir, do you remember the boy's name?"  
"It started with a T."  
"Was it Trevor?"  
"Yep that's it."  
Nick gave him a smile. "Thank you Mr. Andrews you helped out a bunch." Nick then turned and headed back to the car with Sara.  
  
Back at the lab, Catherine was sitting in the break room with Warrick and Grissom. Her cell phone rang. She grabbed it and answered. "Hello. Oh hey Nick. What? Okay I will tell them. Right. Thanks"  
Catherine then hung up and glanced over at Grissom. "Well, we know we have at least one liar. Nick said that Sam saw Trevor at the Green's house last night."  
Grissom felt like this case was finally getting somewhere. "Good, let's go back and find out."  
Warrick looked at him. "What about me?"  
Grissom smiled. "You've got an important job. It's called keep everyone away from Eckley."  
Warrick shook his head. "And how am I supposed to do that?"  
"You'll figure out something. Oh and when Nick and Sara get back have Nick go check on Greg."  
"What about Sara?"  
"That goes back to job number one, keep her away from Eckley."  
Before he could say anything else Grissom and Catherine walked out the door.   
  
Eckley was still ticked. He started looking for Sara. He figured since this is all her fault she would get his fury. He stepped into the break room and saw only Warrick. The younger man looked at him. His face was expressionless. Eckley's stare was like shooting daggers. "Where's everyone at?"  
Warrick just let the stare slide. "Working."  
"Why aren't you?"  
"Why aren't you?" Warrick countered.  
The older man didn't take the comment very well. "Look here, I'm about two seconds ready to hurt someone really badly. You keep up that attitude and maybe I'll start with you."  
Again Warrick wasn't fazed. He kept his cool listening to the raging tone of the mad man in front of him.   
Eckley couldn't stand the silent treatment he was getting. "What you afraid now? You better be. I can easily take you down."  
Warrick laughed. "Yeah, Right."  
"Don't think so? Care to try?"  
Warrick just sat there. "You know Eckley you should see someone about your anger issues."  
Eckley couldn't take it anymore. "Get up right now. You and me, one on one."  
Warrick stood up and leaned against the table. "Look Eckley, think about it. If you lose this job who are you going to harass?"  
Before he knew Eckley's fist soared and hit Warrick on the side of the face. Blood started coming out of his nose.  
Warrick was about to take a swing at him when Eckley went at him again, but someone grabbed his hand from the back. Eckley turned around to see the angry face of Nick staring straight at him.   
Nick applied more pressure to his arm. "Let's see you try that again," he said.   
Sara came out from behind Nick and walked over to Warrick. She handed him a Kleenex. "You okay?"  
"Yeah, but if you guys were five seconds later." He pointed over to Eckley. "He wouldn't be."  
Nick pushed Eckley down in a chair. "Don't worry man, he won't be anymore trouble."  
Warrick wanted to punch the man in the chair. But he didn't. Instead he got out his cell phone and called Brass. He filled Brass in on everything. He could almost hear the joy in Brass' voice knowing that Eckley would soon be out of there.  
Sara looked at Eckley. "Why go after Warrick? He didn't do anything to you."  
Eckley gave her an evil look. "You were no where in sight. Otherwise you would have been on the receiving end."  
Sara returned the look. "Oh really. Nick let him go and we'll see how tough he is."  
Nick didn't as much as he would love to see Sara kick the crap out of Eckley, he didn't want her to lose her job.  
Brass came in and surveyed the scene. Nick still had Eckley pinned down on the chair. Warrick was standing beside Sara. His nose was still bleeding. The tissue wasn't helping much. Brass took Eckley by the arm. "C'mon let's take a long walk to the police station. I'm sure Warrick here would love to file an assault report."  
They watched Brass take Eckley away. Nick looked over to Warrick. "I think you need to have that checked. He might have broken your nose."  
Warrick shook his head. "Nah, I think it's okay. It's just bleeding a lot. Thanks for the save."  
Nick grinned at him. "Sure no problem. I didn't want to lose the "closest thing to a best friend" I've got."  
They just laughed and Warrick told them what Grissom had said. They decided that they would all go down and check on Greg, since job number one wasn't a priority now.  
  
Catherine and Grissom arrived at Lisa's house. Lisa saw them pull in and went outside to greet them. "Hey Catherine, what brings you buy?"  
Catherine smiled at her. "Hey Lisa, we need to ask you and Trevor a few more questions."  
Lisa gave her confused look. "What does Trevor have to do with any of this?"  
Grissom spoke up. "According to an informant he was over at the Green's house last night."  
Lisa was shocked. She didn't move for a minute. "I had no idea he was over there. I told him time and again not to go over there."  
Catherine nodded her head. "Trust me I understand. We really do need to speak to him though. He might have seen something that could give us a clue as to what happened."  
Lisa invited them in and she called for her son. Trevor came down the stairs carrying a game boy. He didn't even look up. Lisa looked at her son. "Trevor, put down the game boy these people want to talk to you."  
Trevor glanced up from his game and he smiled at Catherine. "Hey." He told her.   
Catherine returned the smile. "Hey Trevor, how are you?"  
"Good."  
"We need to ask you some questions. You went over to Ben's house yesterday didn't you?"  
Trevor glanced down to the floor and starting kicking his foot against the floor. "I'm not supposed to go over there."  
Grissom spoke up. "But you did, didn't you?"  
"Yeah, I did. Ben wanted me to see his new game. So I snuck over there before we went to grandma's."  
Lisa couldn't believe it. After all those times she told him. "Trevor." That one word spoke volumes. She was mad and disappointed.   
Grissom didn't want him to get too upset to where he wouldn't answer any more questions so he continued. "Did you see anything strange? Anyone you didn't recognize there?"  
"It was dark outside. I didn't go in. I met him in his backyard. So, I really didn't see much of anything. Sorry."  
"That's okay. We just wanted to check."  
"I did see a car there I hadn't seen before."  
"Can you describe the car?"  
"Sure, I can even tell you the license plate."  
That got all their attentions. "What was it?" Catherine asked.  
"It said WALGRN."  
Grissom and Catherine both took that in. "Thank you Trevor, you've been a really big help."  
"Does that mean I'm not in trouble?"  
"Not by us, but you might be by your mom." Catherine said and turned and looked at Lisa.  
"Oh yeah, he's in big trouble. No video games for you for a week."  
Trevor whined. Grissom and Catherine walked outside and headed back for the lab. They finally had a break in the case.  
  
They arrived back and were filled in about the Eckley situation. The blood samples turned out to be the Green's. So that didn't help much. Grissom ran the plate through the system and a name popped up. Walter Green. He informed the others and told them what Trevor had said. Nick looked at him. "Walter said he was there a lot. So why wouldn't the boy have recognized the car?"  
Warrick answered. "Unless he was lying. I guess we better go find out."  
Grissom stopped him. "I think I better go, I wouldn't want someone else to take a swing at you."  
Warrick glared at him. "Hey if it wasn't for Nick, I would have lost my job."  
"I'm sure you would have. Eckley might lose his, that is if you are pressing charges."  
Warrick nodded. "Yep for assault and harassment."  
"Good."  
Nick spoke up. "So who's going to Walter's?"  
Grissom thought about that. He wanted to send different people this time to see if Walter changes his story. He also wanted a background check done on him. "Nick, I need you to do a background check on Walter for me. Warrick go ask Doc. Robbins if he's found a weapon that was used against them. Catherine you and Sara go and talk to Walter. I'm going to find out if we can keep Eckley out of here for good."  
They all smiled about that and went to do their assigned job.  
  
Catherine was tired. She had been back and forth all day. She wasn't looking forward to interviewing another person. She glanced over at Sara. Sara didn't seem to upset, in fact she looked pretty happy. "Okay spill it." Catherine said.  
Sara looked at her. "What?"  
"You know what I mean. You've been smiling and walking around like you're on cloud nine. What's going on?"  
Sara couldn't help it. She had been smiling a lot. Nick made her so happy. She decided to go ahead and tell Catherine before Warrick or Greg did. "Nick and I are seeing each other."  
Catherine's mouth dropped. "WHEN? How long have you two been?"  
"Officially today."  
Catherine grinned. "I'm happy for you. Both of you."  
"Thanks."  
Catherine then frowned. "Have you told Grissom yet?"  
"No, not yet. I really haven't even thought about it."  
Catherine noticed that they had arrived at Walter's home. "Let's go see if his story changes."  
They walked up to the door and rang the bell. The same little girl answered the door. She smiled really big at the two women. "Hi, can I help you?"  
Catherine grinned at her. "Is your daddy home?"  
"Yep, he's here. You want to talk to him?"  
"Please."  
The girl shut the door and called for her dad. Walter opened the door and gave the two women a strange look. "May I help you ladies?"  
Catherine introduced herself and Sara. Then she went straight to the point. "You were at your brother's house last night weren't you."  
"No, they came over here."  
"According to a witness, your car was seen there last night. Care to explain?"  
Walter shook his head. "Okay, okay, yeah I went over there. Richard and I had an argument here and I went to go straighten it out."  
"What time last night did you go?"  
"Around 8. I didn't want to stay long."  
Sara was busy looking around. She wasn't sure what she was searching for. She was just looking. The little girl had come back outside. "Daddy, mommy wants you."  
Walter looked at his daughter. "Okay honey." He looked at Catherine. "Excuse me for a minute would you ladies."  
Catherine nodded and watched him go back in. The little girl stayed outside though. "What's your name?" Catherine asked.  
"Lily. What's yours?"  
"Catherine and this is Sara."  
"Are you going to arrest my daddy?"  
Catherine took a quick glance at Sara and then she focused her attention back on Lily. "Why do you think we would arrest your dad?"  
"Because he got into a fight with Uncle Richard."  
Sara bent down to Lily's level. "Lily, can you tell us about the fight?"  
Lily shook her head no. "Daddy said no one could know about it."  
Catherine bent down beside Sara. "Lily, we are trying to figure out what happened to your uncle. Did your dad have something to do with it? We really need to know. It's very important."  
Lily's eyes starting watering and before she could speak, her dad came back out. He saw his daughter crying and was immediately angry. "What did you do to my daughter?"  
"Nothing, she was telling us about your fight with your brother." Catherine responded and got back on her feet.  
"Lily, go inside honey." Lily went in and shut the door. Once inside Walter became very angry. "You have no right to come in here and interrogate my daughter. I want the two of you to leave now."  
Sara looked at him. "Sir, you told us you had an argument with Richard. Did the two of you become violent?"  
"Yes, I punched him. He punched me. Are you happy now? I felt bad so I went over last night to apologize. End of story."  
"Did you see anything while you were there? Your brother was brutally murdered and you're acting like you really don't care how it happened or who did it. In fact you don't seem that upset at all. I'm beginning to believe the two of you didn't get along at all."  
Walter stared at Sara. "I want you out of here right now. Or I'm calling the cops."  
Catherine looked at him. "Call the cops. We can easily get a warrant for you to come down to the station and talk to one of us. So calling the cops would actually do us a favor."  
Walter gave up. He knew it was hopeless. "Okay, Richard and I hated each other. We don't talk to each other unless something is going on with the family. I don't go over there to drink or anything. He messed my life up. It's all his fault."  
"What's his fault?"  
"He tore my marriage apart. He got my wife pregnant. Lily thinks I'm her dad and it's gonna stay that way. He came here last night threatening to tell Lily the truth and take her away from me. I told him no and we got into a fight. Then he left."  
"What did you do then?"  
"I followed him home. I told him to never come back here again. That's all. I swear. I left right after that. I didn't kill my brother. I wanted to sometimes, but I didn't. Besides I had nothing against Ellen or Ben."  
Catherine stood there for a moment. "Okay Mr. Green, we will leave now. Thank you for the information."  
She and Sara headed back to the car. Sara looked at her. "I guess we're back to square one."  
Catherine nodded her head. "Yep. I really thought we were getting somewhere."  
"The murderer must have been professional."  
Catherine looked at her. "Why do you say that?"  
"Because the murder weapon wasn't found and there were no prints other than Sam Andrews."  
"Let me get this straight. Are you thinking that the murderer was a hit man?"  
"I'm thinking so, and Walter back there sure has motive to hire one."  
"Only thing is we can't prove it."  
"So what, this one goes unresolved."  
Catherine gave her a sad smile. "I'm afraid so. We just don't have much evidence to help us."  
Sara grew quiet. They didn't speak for the rest of the trip back to the lab.  
  
Warrick was coming back from Doc. Robbins. He found out that the weapon used was a kitchen knife. That information didn't help at all. He knew everyone in America had at least one in his or her household. He walked into the break room. Nick was sitting there. "Done with that background check already?" asked Warrick.   
"Yeah, he didn't get along with his brother at all. It seems that they have gotten into quite a few fights."  
Catherine and Sara walked in. Catherine responded. "Yeah, that's what we just learned." She explained the conversation to them.   
Grissom walked in and saw his entire team. "Find out anything?"  
They all shared information. Catherine looked at him. "I think this case is going to go unsolved."  
Grissom frowned. "I don't like unsolved cases. There has to be an answer somewhere."  
Nick grinned. "The truth is out there."  
Warrick glared at him. "Thanks for that info. Mulder."  
Nick laughed. "No problem Scully."  
Warrick threw a cup at him. Everyone but Grissom laughed. Grissom wasn't in the mood for jokes. He wanted this case solved and he wanted it solved now. "This isn't time for jokes. We have three victims whose murderer is still out there."  
Sara looked at him. "Catherine and I think it was done by a hit man."  
"Hired by whom?"  
"Walter Green. He certainly has motive."  
Grissom shook his head. "We can't prove that."  
Catherine took a deep breath. "So the case goes unsolved. Lack of evidence."  
"I think Lily knows something." Sara said. "I'm sure she would tell us to if we could talk to her."  
Grissom wasn't sure about it but decided it couldn't hurt. "I'll get a warrant to talk to the girl. I know the parents aren't going to let us talk freely to her."  
Catherine agreed. "That's for sure."  
Grissom started to head out but turned around. "Oh by the way, I do have good news. Eckley's been suspended."  
Warrick looked at him. "How long?"  
"Indefinitely"  
Grissom then walked out leaving the others with big smiles on their faces.   
  
An hour later Grissom had the warrant and Lily in an interrogation room. Grissom didn't want to talk to her because children didn't like him very much. He figured Catherine would be the best person to talk to her. Inside Lily was sitting at the table. She looked very scared. She was holding a stuffed animal. Catherine walked in and sat across from her. "Hey Lily, how are you?"  
Lily looked at her. "I want my mommy. I want to go home."  
"You will soon. I just need to ask you a few more questions and then you can go home okay."  
"Okay"  
"Lily, I want you to think really hard. Has your daddy had a stranger come over or has he talked on the phone to someone whom you or your mommy doesn't know?"  
"No, just this one time. He talked to someone on the phone and he was whispering so I couldn't hear him."  
"Do you know who he was talking to?"  
"A man. I wanted to know why he was whispering so I listened in on the other line."  
"Does your dad know that?"  
"No." Lily hugged her animal tighter. Catherine noticed and tried to comfort her. "Don't worry Lily we're almost done. Can you remember what your dad said to this man?"  
"Something about the payment in full. I don't know what that means. The man on the other end said that he would get the job done fast and he would make sure it would be smooth. I hung up after that cause I didn't want to get in trouble."  
Catherine gave the girl a big smile. "Thanks Lily. You've helped out a bunch. You can go home now."  
The little girl got excited. She hopped up out of her chair and went to the door. Catherine opened it for her and watched Lily run into her mom's arms.  
  
The others had heard the conversation and Grissom sent Warrick to get the phone records from Walter's home phone. About twenty minutes, they had all the information needed and Walter was brought into the room. Grissom was inside waiting for him.  
"Walter, we are going right to the point. We checked your phone records and we found out you hired a hit man to kill your brother."  
Walter couldn't believe it. "What? Are you crazy?"  
"No, just informed. We called the number and the hit man told us everything. We already have someone down to arrest him."  
Walter looked at him. "He was only supposed to hurt Richard. I didn't want him to hurt Ellen or Ben."  
"Either way, you are still responsible." Two officers came in and arrested him. Grissom got back with his team. "Looks like we didn't need Mulder and Scully after all." He told them.  
They all laughed and decided to go home and get some sleep.  
  
A WEEK LATER  
  
Sara was on her way to Nick's house. Early that morning he invited her for supper. She walked up to his door and rang the bell. Nick opened it. He smiled as soon as he saw her. He stepped away letting her come in. The first thing she noticed was the lighting. Candles were lit everywhere in the house. All the other lights were off. Nick grabbed her and kissed her. She felt like she was in heaven. He released her and took her hand and led her into the kitchen.   
He had alfredo cooking in one of the pots. He also had a salad mix in a bowl. Sara smiled at him. "Nick, thank you. It's great."  
He returned the smile. "Hey, wait 'til you taste the food. Then thank me. Oh and save room for desert. I've made homemade cheesecake."  
Sara and Nick worked together and had everything set out on the table. They ate their meal in silence. They would occasionally look at each other and smile. After dinner and desert they went into the living room. Nick turned on the cd player. He grabbed Sara's hand. "Care to dance?"  
"I would love to."  
They danced slowly in time with the music. Sara laid her head against his shoulder. His arm tightened around her waist. After their dance was done, they sat down on the couch.  
Sara looked at him. "I'm having a wonderful time. Thanks."  
"No, thank you Sara."  
They kissed until they both ran out of breath. "Sara, I don't want you to go home."  
"Me neither."  
"Good. I guess I will be loaning my bed out again." Nick smiled remembering his conversation with Warrick.  
Sara looked at him. "Well, at least this time you won't be on the couch."  
Nick looked at her and then grinned. "You know that's gonna be the first thing Warrick asks about."  
"I know, let's make sure we have something entertaining to tell him."  
Nick got her meaning. "Don't worry, I'm sure we will find something." He got up and took her hand. He led her to his room. "You know we might not want to tell Greg. I hate seeing him beat himself up."  
Sara laughed. "Yeah, the poor kid's too young to have a heart attack."  
Nick and Sara walked into his room and shut the door, and started their new lives together.  
  
  
The End. 


End file.
